The Chicago Lights

We had a great time this past weekend down in Chicago. Leslie, the great lady who has been leading worship at our church for the last couple of years, lives down in the city and invited the regulars from the worship team (and our families) down to see the lights and do some Chicago stuff. It was a blast.

We headed down Saturday morning with Gow and Laura and their kids. We fit perfectly into the Suburban (8 people, 8 seatbelts), so we were able to take only one vehicle. Leslie fed us a light lunch and then Andrew, the other worship regular, and his girlfriend and her kids showed up. We headed downtown for an afternoon of wandering and looking at the lights. We walked through Millennium Park, watched ice skaters a bit, did the bean thing (our kids LOVE that thing every time they see it). Then we headed over to Macy's to take a look at the famous Macy's Christmas windows. After that we headed over to an outdoor German market that was PACKED. I cannot remember ever being with that many people in such a small place. Then it was off to Lincoln Park Zoo to see their lights, some animals, and ride the carousel. After that, everyone, especially the kids, were pretty much pooped, so we headed home.

Leslie's kids had prepared the kids' meal for us, so the kids were able to sit down right away and eat. Man, Leslie and Don (her husband) were good to us. The kids ate, played a little, and then we put them to bed. During this process, the adults were treated to a variety of yummy appetizers. Cyndie and I were joking that between the shrimp appetizer, and this excellent cranberry/cream cheese/bacon/garlic appetizer (on crackers), we would have been happy just with that. But after the kids were down, all the adults sat down to a quiet (so fun) meal together. We ended up eating/talking for three hours. It was really great to just hang out with other adults with no time pressures or kids coming to interrupt. All of the couples have small kids in one way or another (Laura and Gow with their little ones, and Marika, Andrew's girlfriend is a single mom with a 9 and 3 year old, so she especially, but Andrew too, were grateful for a nice, quiet meal), so we reveled in nice meal. Eventually, we were all pooped too, so hit the hay.

In the morning, we just relaxed, had a nice breakfast, and hung out a bit. I think we ended up leaving around 11:30 or so. Early enough to get home and have some down time before church. All in all, it was an outstanding weekend. We were so blessed by Leslie and Don's hospitality!